Story Search Results

Victorian Courtship - fans #91

For the next few months I will be doing a series on Victorian courtship starting in February, the month of love, as we have just celebrated Valentine’s Day on the 14th.  The Victorians used various items for flirting with, namely fans, gloves, parasols and handkerchiefs!  I imagine the Meynell family at Hoar Cross Hall held lots of dinner parties and Balls back in the Victorian days where most of the young ladies would have had their fans at the ready to signal to a secret beau.  But what were these signals and why were they used? The belief that the fan was used in society to express feelings or commands dates back to at least the early 18th century.  I...

Midnight pool parties #22

...been to a fancy dress party where Kev had dressed up as a knight with tights and tabard on – these were abandoned at the side of the pool where our friend’s gardener found them next day.  Apparently he took our friend to one side and whispered “I think your young lady has left these behind”.  His face must have been a picture when Carl said “Oh no, those are Kev’s!” The pool parties were great fun and once we’d dried ourselves off we headed for the house to find some food and then to wash it down with lashings of champagne, courtesy of our friend, who would then play Frank Sinatra songs very loudly on his stereo.  One young lady always liked...

Midnight pool parties #21

...been to a fancy dress party where Kev had dressed up as a knight with tights and tabard on – these were abandoned at the side of the pool where our friend’s gardener found them next day.  Apparently he took our friend to one side and whispered “I think your young lady has left these behind”.  His face must have been a picture when Chris said “Oh no, those are Kev’s!” The pool parties were great fun and once we’d dried ourselves off we headed for the house to find some food and then to wash it down with lashings of champagne, courtesy of our friend, who would then play Frank Sinatra songs very loudly on his stereo.  One young lady always liked...

Midnight Pool Parties #20

...been to a fancy dress party where Kev had dressed up as a knight with tights and tabard on – these were abandoned at the side of the pool where our friend’s gardener found them next day. Apparently he took our friend to one side and whispered “I think your young lady has left these behind”. His face must have been a picture when Chris said “Oh no, those are Kev’s!”   The pool parties were great fun and once we’d dried ourselves off we headed for the house to find some food and then to wash it down with lashings of champagne, courtesy of our friend, who would then play Frank Sinatra songs very loudly on his stereo. One young lady always liked...

Midnight Pool Parties #21

...been to a fancy dress party where Kev had dressed up as a knight with tights and tabard on – these were abandoned at the side of the pool where our friend’s gardener found them next day. Apparently he took our friend to one side and whispered “I think your young lady has left these behind”. His face must have been a picture when Chris said “Oh no, those are Kev’s!” The pool parties were great fun and once we’d dried ourselves off we headed for the house to find some food and then to wash it down with lashings of champagne, courtesy of our friend, who would then play Frank Sinatra songs very loudly on his stereo. One young lady always liked to do...

Growing up in a stately home #1

...was a big fan of The Famous Five in those days and it really did feel like I was in the middle of one of their mysteries! There were about 15 basement rooms, some of which had had the floors removed due to damp rot, but the main passageway was made of flagstones so you could still walk through it – this was where the indoor male servants had slept and it was also where the wine cellars were along with linen storage cupboards. In the attic a similar number of rooms were bare and empty and had once housed all the female servants. Two spiral staircases joined all the floors together, one at each end of the house.   The Library with secret doors - can you spo...